Aside from the idea emerging from Mr. Bradley Cooper when filming Limitless, let's try to get an understanding of what nootropics actually are – in a way to make me and the world forget about the Netflix series attempt of reproducing it.

There are so many people out there who have no clue whatsoever what are Nootropics and whether do Nootropics work or not. And there are also many who would immediately ask, are Nootropics legal?

Here we are going to try and answer all the questions you have and help you get a better insight into this fantastic – yet risky to an extent – world of cognitive enhancers, nootropics, and smart drugs. Whatever you choose to call them.

Nootropics (which are often referred to as “smart drugs,” cognitive enhancers, and intelligence enhancers, to name a few) are drugs, supplements, and functional and super-foods that improve brain overall functions. They boost cognition, memory, intelligence, motivation, attention, and concentration.

Nootropics work by modulating neuronal metabolism, cerebral oxygenation, neurotransmitter availability, increasing neurotrophic factors and by affecting other cellular processes. If you’re wondering about the mechanism of work, you can visit any of the pages, for example, click on Mechanism of Action and it will redirect you to the Acetyl L-Carnitine page, in which section #3 explains the exact way that nootropic works within our body…or brains. Each nootropic has a different way of working, which is called mechanism of work. Moreover, nootropics on their separate pages have a benefits and effects section as well as a ‘how it works,’ in which each is addressed.

Depending on the effect you seek. For example, a person who looking to increase their learning capability would be looking for a different nootropic than a person seeking to improve their memory. Generally speaking, the most popular ones are:

In general, yes, most nootropics are legal. However, some are unregulated, some are unregistered, and some are straight up illegal. It depends a lot on where you live, which country, and which state or city.